The present invention relates to a horseshoe and a method of shoeing a horse with this horseshoe.
Horseshoes are well known in the art. In German Offenlegungsschrift No. 26 38 970 it has been suggested, for example, to provide a horseshoe having a shell of synthetic plastic material for embracing an outer surface of a horse's hoof and a horny crust of the sole of the hoof. The shell is glued to the outer surface of the hoof. The horseshoe further includes a metal plate, e.g. of aluminum, which has a configuration substantially corresponding to the sole surface. The plate may be detachably connected to the shell, for example by means of screws or the like.
The drawback of this horseshoe resides in insufficient rigidity in the connection between the metal plate and the synthetic plastic shell.
Moreover, the metal plates are produced in great numbers on corresponding machines. Obviously, such a plate only approximately corresponds to the actual configuration of the sole surface. As a result, such a horseshoe may very easily fall off from the horse's hoof.
Another disadvantage of the prior art horseshoe resides in the fact that the plate has a rather high bending resistance, which fact prevents any physiologically necessary movements of bones of the hoof, e.g. of the frog thereof, during movement of the horse or any growth of these bones which fact may result in deformation of the extremities of the horse.